


I Can't Lose You

by this_is_alx



Series: Sterek Week June 23-29 [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Canon Compliant, Day 2, M/M, Near Death Experience, Pre-Slash, Sterek Week
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-25
Updated: 2014-06-25
Packaged: 2018-02-06 03:41:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1843027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/this_is_alx/pseuds/this_is_alx
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Stiles and Lydia promised an easy fight. The witch, Lydia said, was weakened. She’s hiding in the forest because her powers have been drained, Stiles guaranteed. Even Deaton seemed to think that Stiles and Lydia’s plan to ambush the witch in the woods at night was a guaranteed success."</p>
<p>Except it wasn't. The witch overpowered them and left Stiles for dead. He has minutes left to live and Derek breaks at the thought of losing him. He was so much to say, so much to thanks Stiles for because - even though he doesn't know it - the boy saved him. Derek can't lose him. </p>
<p>This is my entry for day 2 of Sterek Week. The theme is 'Near Death Experience'</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can't Lose You

**Author's Note:**

> Enjoy!

Stiles and Lydia promised an easy fight. The witch, Lydia said, was weakened. She’s hiding in the forest because her powers have been drained, Stiles guaranteed. Even Deaton seemed to think that Stiles and Lydia’s plan to ambush the witch in the woods at night was a guaranteed success.

 

Great plan, Derek thought bitterly as he groaned in pain. They’d been immediately overpowered by the very much powerful witch. It had happened so quickly that all Derek remembered was catching a glimpse of the witch’s midnight black hair flowing and the eerily calm expression on her face before he was thrown back by her magic.

 

When Derek woke up, he was hunched against a tree, pain throbbing through his entire body, with no idea how long he’d been unconscious. His back and leg were broken, but healing. His head was pounding and blood matted his hair and stained the bark of the tree. Derek sniffed the air, trying to catch any of his packmates’ scents. The overwhelming smell of magic filled the air and cloged his nose.

 

He pushed himself up, stretching his back and leg. They twinged but seemed to have healed most of the way. He was tested putting his weight on his leg when he heard it. Lydia’s scream.

 

Ice filled his veins at the sound ,the blood-curdling signal of imminent death. Before he even realized what he was doing, he was tearing his way through the forest, following the sound. He ignored his healing body’s protests as he pushed himself to go faster.

 

He found Lydia in a small clearing. She was on her knees clutching a body and screaming. Derek stopped at the edge of the clearing, eyes focused on the boy lying prone on the ground. He felt frozen in place, more paralyzed than the kanima venom had ever made him feel

 

“Stiles!” Scott’s scream broke Derek out of his haze. He realized that the rest of the pack had also followed Lydia’s scream to the clearing and watched as they ran to Stiles. Peter hung back, hidden mostly in the shadows. Scott dropped to his knees across Lydia, grabbing onto Stiles’ free hand. Malia was already crying - Derek could smell it more than see it - as she sat down beside Scott to run her hands through Stiles’ hair. When she pulled her hand away, it was soaked in blood.

 

“What happened?” Scott asked his voice pained. Kira stepped up behind him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. Derek’s stomach knotted as he remembered Stiles touching him the same way, anchoring him when all he had wanted to was sink his own claws into his chest like he’d done to Boyd.

 

“I dont-I don’t know,” Lydia stammered. “He was like this when I found him.”

 

“We need to get him to the hospital,” Kira said.

 

Malia pulled away from Stiles to glare fiercely at Kira. “He’ll be dead by the time we get out of this damn forest.” Her bright blue eyes turned to Scott, her fangs slightly obstructed her speech as she fought to control her shift. “What are you waiting for? Bite him, Scott!”

 

Scott’s eyes flashed red and his veins ran black, leeching away Stiles’ pain. Stiles gave a soft groan as the pain seeped out of him. “I can’t...I can’t just...it might kill him.”

 

Derek closed his eyes as the memories of Paige flooded him, as the images of Stiles dying from the bite, begging for the mercy of death save him from the pain, filled his mind.

 

It was Lydia’s anguished cry of “He’s about to die anyway!” That snapped him back to reality. Stiles was already dying. There was no need to imagine, it was happening right before him. Again feeling completely out of control of his limbs, Derek stepped into the clearing and didn’t stop walking until he was standing above Stiles’ barely conscious body.

 

No one paid him any attention as he practically collapsed onto the ground beside Lydia. She was still gripping his hand with one of hers, the other pressing two fingers against his wrist to check his pulse. Malia was growling at Scott, who ignored her. Scott, still clutching Stiles’ other hand, was begging the boy to wake up, the answer him.

 

“Please, Stiles, c’mon, man. Do you want me to bite you? I need you to wake up and call me stupid for crying and tell me what the hell I’m supposed to do. Wake up, Stiles, you can’t die on me...” Scott’s voice trailed off.

 

The combination of Scott’s words and the small whimper that escaped Stiles broke something inside of Derek. He reached out for Stiles, searching contact with his skin but too afraid to touch the bloody mess of his head. Derek’s hand ended up gently cupping Stiles neck, feeling the week pulse throbbing there. His eyes were open but unseeing. A small puff of breath left Stiles’ mouth and it felt so heartbreakingly final that Derek just deflated. His body folded in half, his chest pressing into his bent knees and his forehead resting against on the ground beside Stiles’ head.

 

Even with his own eyes closed, Derek knew the others were watching him. He didn’t care. His mind raced with memories of all the times Stiles had brought him back, had risked himself to save Derek. He remembered Stiles pushing him in a way that no one had cared enough to do since Laura died. He pictured the life that he had stupidly fantasized, of following Stiles to college and having someone to come home to. Someone to stay alive for.

 

Stiles’s pulse spiked and his glazed eyes shifted to Derek. Derek tried to push down the hope that filled his chest because he knew better than anyone that hoping for the best in these situations only made it hurt more later.

 

Derek could hear Scott speaking again but he couldn’t focus on the words. He was preoccupied with his own words. Words that, as usual, he couldn’t figure out how to say. He had so much to tell Stiles, had always had so much to tell Stiles, and he was running out of time.

 

Derek shifted his head so that his nose was nuzzled against Stiles hair, mouth lightly brushing his ear. He inhaled, trying to ignore the sickening scent of blood and magic and focus on Stiles’ scent.

 

“Please, Stiles,” he whispered softly. “Please, I can’t lose you. Don’t - don’t leave me”

 

When Derek looked up, Peter was watching him sadly from the trees. Kira and Lydia were looking at him with their own looks of pity. Malia, who had stopped growling when Derek spoke, was looking away, obviously uncomfortable.

 

Scott was still pleading with Stiles to give him some kind of sign that he wanted the bite, reminding him of the hospital, and begging him to die. Stiles’ eyes slid away from Derek to focus on Scott. With a final burst of strength he nodded, just a small, nearly imperceptible lift of his head before it lolled back against the ground.

 

Malia cried out as Stiles’ heartbeat slowed, practically to the point of stopping. For the first time, Derek genuinely regretted the fact that he was no longer an alpha. He wanted to scream at Scott to bite Stiles, to save him, to realize that he had permission, that Stiles had done everything he could to _give him permission_. A soft whimper escaped him and that seemed to snap Scott out of whatever trance he had fallen into.

 

Derek stopped breathing as Scott lifted Stiles’ shirt, and sunk his fangs into Stiles’ side. He listened as Stiles’ weak breath hitched and his heart continued to beat slowly. He watched as Scott lifted his head, blood staining his mouth. He felt Lydia lean against him, sobs wracking her body.

 

Derek waited.

 

He waited in the middle of their tragic huddle, still gently holding Stiles neck. He waited as Scott stood to call the Sheriff. He waited until the smell of Stiles’ blood stopped being fresh, until he stopped smelling of pain, and fear, and deadly magic. He waited until Stiles’ pulse strengthened and his breathing evened. He waited while Lydia, Kira, and Malia cried.

  
He waited until, hours later, just as the sun began to rise, Stiles opened his eyes.

 

* * *

Find me on tumblr [here](http://this-is-alx.tumblr.com/)

Find out more about Sterek Week[ here](http://sterekweek.tumblr.com/)

 


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